New chief executive takes over at South Kesteven District Council

A new chief executive has taken over the reins at the district council on a 12 month contract.

Aidan Rave officially took up his position today after a meeting of the council voted to confirm his appointment yesterday. He is on a fixed term contract for 12 months with a possibility of an extension for a further 10 months. He is on a salary of £122,745 per annum.

On Twitter Mr Rave said: “I’m proud and honoured to have been confirmed as chief executive of @southkesteven and look forward to the hard work ahead #skgoingplaces.”

Mr Rave began his career in politics in Doncaster where he became Deputy Mayor for five years. He then moved into executive recruitment before eventually joining the Barnardo’s charity as Interim UK Director of Strategy.

Mr Rave takes over from Beverly Agass who is moving to take up a new role with South Cambridgeshire District Council. Ms Agass became chief executive at SKDC in 2009.

On proposing Mr Rave as the new chief executive at yesterday’s meeting, Council Leader Matthew Lee said: “I would like to thank our current chief executive for her commitment to the council throughout the years.

“As we embark upon this new era for the district council it is clearly essential that we have a chief executive who can clearly initiate and deliver change. Someone who has the passion and proven track record as well as the personal skills to work with our officers to create a culture that ensures we put the customer at the very heart of everything we do.

“Having spoken to Aidan, and as long as the council is happy to support this, I am very hopeful that Aidan will consider applying for the permanent position which will be adverstised at the appropriate time.

“Aidan brings a wealth of experience across both the public and private sectors and also has direct experience as an elected member within local government. He has extensive experience in the not-for-profit sector which I think all of this will stand him in particularly well in this new role.

“Executing and delivering change in organisations while driving improvements and at the same time providing that very important ingredient stability, as he has done so in Barnardo’s and Victim Support, will be a critical element to the success of this role and I have every confidence that Aidan will deliver that.”